Thetford

Thetford, town in Norfolk, England. It is situated on the confluence of the rivers Thet and Little Ouse on an ancient ford, in an area known as Breckland. The town is flanked by Thetford Forest, a commercial plantation of over 32,400 hectares (80,000 acres) that was planted in the 1920s and is today used for recreational purposes. The town has attractive riverside gardens, created in the early years of the 19th century when Thetford was a flourishing spa.

The Ancient House Museum, a 15th-century timber-framed house, has displays of local archaeology and history. It displays replicas of the Thetford Treasure, a cache of silver and gold jewellery and spoons dating from Roman times that was found near Thetford and is now held in the British Museum. Close to the museum is the house where Thomas Paine, the 18th-century political philosopher, was born—a gilt statue of him stands in front of the Guildhall. Just 11 km (7 mi) from Thetford is a prehistoric complex of flint mines called Grime’s Graves. The mines are an important Neolithic site providing detailed and unusual evidence of mining and life in the area dating from 2000 bc. In the 1980s a palace thought to have belonged to Boudicca of the Iceni was discovered and excavated.

In the 6th century, the town was the capital of the kingdom of East Anglia, and from the 9th to 11th centuries one of Saxon Britain’s most important towns. During the Middle Ages Thetford continued to be a significant trading town with its own mint and a pottery producing Thetfordware. The legacy of these prosperous times is a number of impressive historical sites, including the massive mound of Castle Hill (an 11th-century motte with Iron Age earthworks) and the 12th-century ruins of a Cluniac priory; ruins remain for three of Thetford’s five monasteries. In 1094 the region’s church centre was moved to Norwich and Thetford began to decline. The town’s fortunes dipped further when, in the 16th century during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the priory was seized and the surrounding lands were left to deteriorate. In the 1960s Thetford’s population increased when it became an overspill town for London’s burgeoning populace; it soon became one of the fastest-growing towns in England. Population 20,058 (1991).